Saturday, October 31, 2009

Quotable

"My gut is that I think Doc wants to be on a winning team -- whether he comes back here next year or is going to be gone the next year. I'm pretty sure that's what he's probably going to do, because he's probably sitting there looking at A.J. out there pitching, knowing that that's where he'd like to be. It's not about money with Doc. It's about him being on a winning team. I can't speak for Doc, but my gut feeling is if he's here next year with us, then he'll probably leave after next year. Hopefully, if that's the case, then we can get something for him before he leaves."

Uh, Cito? I don't want to spend the weekend piling on here....but shut the fuck up already.

Honestly.

If I'm cringing when I read that you're already sending Doc out of town, how do you think your GM feels?

Playoffs!

Oh wait - you've just informed the fanbase that the Jays won't be a winning team in the forseeable future. Got it.

Not to be an apologist for Le Cito here, but um....doesn't almost every fan worth their salt already know that? If Jays = Contenders on paper, we may see a Docxtention, if no - he'll start Game 1 for the Red Sox in 2011.

Wow, that hurt me to type.

By the way, I don't post a lot, but I live in Scotland and you and the Ack (and regular posters) keep me going. Cheers for that!

Isn't this a firing, scheduled in advance. Now Beeston and Antho can guarantee present and future players "no Cito after this year". And it keeps the Cito fans happy. I think this is brilliant, probably engineered by Beest but maybe Antho. And I'm sure Beest gave Doc a heads up at dinner. So next year is gone to hell from a win/loss perspective but now let's see what the rebuild steps look like. In this context does it make sense to resign Scooter and Barajas. But if no Scotter then who the fuck is going to play SS?

But Anon 1:03, that's the thing -- rebuilding next year is going to be tough if Cito is the manager because he's never been good with the way he handles younger players, and he'll be more inclined to give regular AB's to Millar-type "veterans" rather than the guys we're trying to rebuild with in the first place.

To defend Anon 1:03, Ty, I don't know if you can categorically criticize Cito as the Sultan of Drek when it comes to the way he handles younger players. Adam Lind has given much of the credit for his increased confidence and fondness for the dinger due to Cito giving him a long enough leash to swing his way through any batting funk. Plus I remember him never throwing so much as a fucking beer keg at Juan Guzman as a not so subtle way to prod the master of the 27 minute inning to hurry the fuck up already.

Again, I think it's best to take a wait and see approach to Cito for next season. There are too many invariables still left undetermined to determine just how good or terrible Cito will be.

I guess this off-season can be a reckless time, what with a new gm, same old coach, the general uncertainty etc, but does the TOS plan on stencilling in another name to the Alternative Level of Excellence? It's been about a year and a half since a player has been, well, honoured with the distinction.

I don't see any coincidence by these moves and Cito signing a four year "consulting" contract to begin immediately after this year. I could definitely see Cito leaving at some point this offseason into an early role as a consultant.

Also, I'm the biggest Doc homer there is, but even I can see that if the Jays want to turn this thing around as quickly as possible, they have to trade Doc. The possible king's (doc's?) ransom of quality young controllable players you could get for Doc could be enough to put the team on the path to playoffs in 2 or 3 years. Hanging on to Doc for the sake of hanging on to Doc pushes that time frame back considerably in my opinion. He's great, but the pieces aren't here now, there aren't any high-impact free agents out there to add, and the Jays don't have any tradeable assets outside of Doc. The Jays will stay mediocre next year regardless of who's managing, and Doc walks after the year's over. They have to trade him.

@ DP if Doc goes free agent after he is tarded to LA ,Philly or soemwhere else. he will be on one of two teams: the Yankees or the REd Sox. The Red Sox depending if they sign Beckett or not. If they get Beckett, Halladay might go to the Yanks, only if they get permission form the Steinbrenner sons, who have a ceiling of spending 200 mill. My gut tells me Halladay goes to La, since they need a bonafide type Number 1 pitcher.

William Houston weighed in on the Beest today. Mentioned the Tao of Stieb in a few sentences, which was pretty cool. Houston portrays the Beest as a bit of a meddler, as allegedly Gillick wanted to send le Cito the unemployment line in the early 90s but the Beest stepped in to terminate the termination.

Truth be told, the manager has very little impact on the success of a team. The real issue involves the makeup of players on this team and that is what needs to be fixed, who the manager is, is very inconsequential.

I pasted this in the wrong blog, so I apologize if you are reading for the second time.

More food for thought:

"(Roberto) Alomar, playing for his seventh major league team, is a lifetime .301 hitter and a 12-time All-Star. He said he learned the tools of the pitch-tipping trade during his five seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays (1991 to 1995), when he sat next to former Toronto manager Cito Gaston in the dugout.

Gaston would call each pitch in advance as he watched the game.

"He was the master," Alomar said. "He showed me what to look for, what to expect. When I came up, I didn't like it. But when you learn about it and you get better at it, why not? It doesn't mean you're going to hit .300 all the time, but it's nice when you have a clue."

Under Gaston, the Blue Jays won back-to-back World Series rifles in 1992 and 1993, and Alomar insists he became a better hitter. He was a .266 hitter when he came up with the Padres in 1988. Slowly, he began to pick it up at the plate, hitting .300 or higher in nine out of 10 seasons beginning in 1992, his second year with Toronto."

Yeah Bruno, the best course of action is for the Jays to trade him to wherever they can get the most for him. Boston seems to have a lot to offer. The Yankees might be easier to convince to take on Vernon as well.

As for the $200 mill budget, how does Cashman make it work under those constraints?! Gosh, the man is a genius.